Mayor To Offer Compromise On Community Funds

Mayor Harold Washington on Friday will offer a compromise package for community development funding that includes at least $1.5 million in spending sought by the anti-administration majority bloc.

Although the next regular council meeting is scheduled for June 26, Washington on Thursday called a special session for Friday to discuss the federal funding. He said he would submit an ordinance to repeal the plan passed by the council Wednesday and would submit his own version.

However, a question arose over whether Washington forces would be able to muster the necessary 26 aldermen for a quorum for a special council session.

Several key aldermen refused to say Thursday whether they would attend.

``I may be in the building, but I won`t be in the chambers,`` one alderman said.

The $126 million Community Development Block Grant package has bounced between the mayor and his adversaries in the Chicago City Council several times in recent weeks and now faces a Friday deadline.

While Washington has said he would be willing to discuss the funding, Thursday`s announcement marked the first time he offered specifics for a compromise.

An estimated $1 million would be included to ``increase funding for the Model Block Program,`` money used for street and curb repairs, the mayor said. An additional $490,000 would be included for the agencies ``proposed for funding by the city council which are both eligible and had submitted applications for funding.`` Washington would not name the agencies.

He said additional money would be offered in the compromise, but he would not elaborate.

A spokesman for Ald. Edward Burke (14th), chairman of the Finance Committee, would not comment on Washington`s proposal. ``We cannot comment on something we haven`t seen,`` he said.

Members of the majority bloc originally had shifted $14 million from the mayor`s package for their wards. After the mayor vetoed the package, majority bloc aldermen passed an amended version, trimming their requests to $12 million.

If a compromise cannot be reached and approved at Friday`s special session, the mayor could ask for a deadline extension from the federal government. It would be the second one called for.

In another matter, Ald. Edward Vrdolyak (10th), leader of the majority bloc, said Thursday that he would seek arrest warrants for a close adviser of the mayor for threatening to ``kill`` the alderman.

The action follows Wednesday`s council session, which triggered a verbal exchange between Vrdolyak and Walter ``Slim`` Coleman, head of the Heart of Uptown Coalition.

``There are 40 witnesses, including policemen and aldermen, who heard him say, `I`m going to kill you,` `` Vrdolyak said during the taping of ``At Issue,`` to be aired at 9:30 a.m. Sunday on WBBM-AM.

``When someone says they are going to kill me and uses obscenities . . . and then jumps over the railing onto the council floor, I definitely will pursue whatever legal rights I have to the Nth degree,`` he said.

The council meeting erupted into pandemonium when Coleman, reacting to remarks directed at him by Vrdolyak, bolted from his seat in the press section, shouting obscenities and challenging the alderman to fight.

Coleman said he never made any threats to Vrdolyak, although he was heard by reporters to shout, ``I`m going to get you.``

On Thursday, Washington said Vrdolyak had provoked Coleman ``to lose his cool.``